Hydrocarbon

A hydrocarbon is a type of chemical compound. It is made of only hydrogen and carbonatoms. They can be found in crude oil and are separated by fractional distillation (which means they are separated into different groups). The hydrogen and carbon are bonded with non-polar covalent bonds. Because of its lack of polar covalent bonds, hydrocarbons cannot create hydrogen bonds with water and are hydrophobic.

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Hydrocarbons are grouped into "families" or "homologous series". There are five main families. The hydrocarbons in each family have a general formula and similar chemical properties, and similar trends in physical properties.

Aromatic hydrocarbons are aromatic organic molecules that form flat ring-shaped bonds. The most simplest of aromatic hydrocarbons are benzene and indole. They can have one ring, heterocyclic, like benzene or 2 rings, bicyclic like napthalene (primary ingredient in mothballs) or many rings, polycyclic like anthracene (red dye colourant). Their general formula is CnH2n-6, where n is a number greater than or equal to 6.